How to move virtual hosting accounts between two Unix/Linux physical servers or between two Windows servers within the same H-Sphere cluster?

Article ID: 3383, created on Nov 30, 2007, last review on May 10, 2014

Applies to:

H-Sphere

Resolution

This document describes how to move virtual hosting accounts between
two Unix/Linux physical servers
or between two Windows servers within the same H-Sphere cluster. It is not possible to move
accounts between a Windows and a Unix/Linux servers.

Content move was totally redesigned in 2.4 to get rid of pitfalls in H-Sphere 2.3.x.
Now this utility has a web interface in the control panel, doesn't require manual restart of
H-Sphere, considers DNS synchronization issues,
and resolves many other problems.

Account move implies:

1) transfer of
- user account
- all domains hosted under this account
- home directory and its contentNote: no mail resources can be moved between H-Sphere servers.

2) IP and DNS data changes.

Account move doesn't involve user databases, as they are located on separate database servers.
Once you have correctly moved the accounts to a different web server,
user scripts will be able to work
with MySQL databases from the new location.

Warning: As a result of the account move, Webalizer statistics will be reset.
ModLogAn statistics won't be lost.

Cautions

Check if any of the customer scripts use the server IP address and instant access domain alias.
Note all uses to update them right after the move.

Check for absolute file paths in customer scripts if you are going to
change the location of user homes. Note all uses to update them right after the move.

Make sure the server has no users that reached their disk quota.

Winbox only: Systems updated from versions prior to 2.4 have the old ODBC record format
username-odbc_DNSname. 2.4+ installations use the new ODBC record format
username_odbc_DNSname. If you've had the old format, update it in ODBC calls
in user scripts right after the migration.

Requirements:

There should not be any users on the target server with the same username as on
the source server.

You need to have SSL certificates for all accounts using SSL. Since account move doesn't
work with accounts using SSL, you'll need to disable SSL for these accounts before the move,
and reinstall the certificates after the move.

Click Move for this account. The account will be scheduled for move. The system will
check with the source and target servers for information about the resources to be moved.

Select Start Move Processes in the E.Manager menu.

Click Launch for this account.

The content move routine takes the following steps:

Initialization: collecting all necessary information for moving the account.

Checking if the move is possible: checking if the required resources
can be created physically on the target server.

Physical creation of the resources on the target server.

Content transfer: transferring the user's directory to the target server.
Starting from HS 2.4 Patch 3, this step can be omitted
if on the page that appears after you pressed the Launch icon
you specify that you skip moving the user's content. Then, only the account's
"skeleton" will be created, without the actual content.

Deleting resources on the source server: this operation is performed
with a 24 hour delay after switching IPs.Starting from HS 2.4 Patch 3, you can avoid the 24-hour delay
in deleting the resources on the source server if you choose the corresponding
option on the page that appears after you pressed the Launch icon.

Reinstall SSL certificates on all accounts where they had been installed.

If at any stage an error occurs, the process gets suspended, and a trouble ticket is created and assigned
to this specific transfer process, so admin can identify and resolve the problems. Once the problem is resolved
and the process resumed, account move continues from where it stopped.